Secret Service Foils Major Telecom Threat That Could Cripple Cell Service
The U.S. Secret Service says it foiled a network that could launch devastating attacks against telecommunications services in New York City and beyond.
Agents discovered and dismantled a network of electronic devices around the New York City metro area. Those devices include 300 co-located SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards that were used to conduct multiple telecommunications threats. They were found in vacant apartments and other properties within 35 miles of New York City.
“The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” said Secret Service Director Sean Curran.
The plot was foiled as the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) takes place in New York this week. Investigators have not specifically linked the plot to the UNGA, but are looking into whether anyone planned to use it to interfere with communications among government or emergency personnel.
The devices could carry out a wide-range of telecom attacks, including spamming networks with up to 30 million text messages a minute, as well as enabling denial of service attacks. Officials say they were also used to anonymously convey assassination threats against senior U.S. officials and for criminal activities.
“It can’t be understated what this system is capable of doing,” said Matt McCool, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s New York field office. “It can take down cell towers, so then no longer can people communicate, right? .... You can’t text message, you can’t use your cell phone. And if you coupled that with some sort of other event associated with UNGA, you know, use your imagination there, it could be catastrophic to the city.”
The U.S. Secret Service’s Advanced Threat Interdiction Unit, a new section of the agency dedicated to disrupting the most significant and imminent threats to protectees, is conducting the ongoing investigation.